The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Examining renal patients' death trajectories without dialysis

Examining renal patients' death trajectories without dialysis
Examining renal patients' death trajectories without dialysis
Background: minimal work has been carried out into dying trajectories of people with stage-5 (end-stage) chronic kidney disease (CKD). Consequently, little is known about such patients and how they and their families/loved ones cope with the dying phase of the disease.

Aim: this article reports on part of a larger, qualitative study exploring the experiences and trajectory towards death of people with stage-5 CKD who decided not to undergo dialysis. It provides case studies to illustrate the encountered death trajectories.

Methods: interview data were gathered during naturally occurring consultations with patients with stage-5 CKD and/or carers who were seen at a nurse-led, renal supportive care service. All patients referred to the service were asked to participate. Thirty patients and 17 carers were recruited. Patients were seen at approximately 3-month intervals until they died or the study finished. Carers took part in the consultation when present. Eighty-two consultations were included in the wider study.

Results: although the expectation was that patients would die from renal failure following a gradual decline in functional status, this was not always the case. The study identified three trajectories: those who died a typical uraemic death, those who followed another death trajectory, e.g. heart failure, and those where the cause of death was unclear.

Conclusions: the management of patients dying from stage-5 CKD and for whom the time and manner of death is unknown can be problematic for healthcare professionals.
case studies, dying trajectories, end-stage chronic kidney disease, exploratory research
2047-6361
26-34
Noble, H.
cc1025e9-0041-42a1-92fe-8511b6263540
Meyer, J.
50b8fd43-2b12-481c-bb05-9e4bfc38f44a
Bridges, J.
57e80ebe-ee5f-4219-9bbc-43215e8363cd
Kelly, D.
98fd1c7e-13f6-4744-96d9-b5312c33b373
Johnson, B.
d5362d6d-0d9f-48f9-a85e-47818c89cba7
Noble, H.
cc1025e9-0041-42a1-92fe-8511b6263540
Meyer, J.
50b8fd43-2b12-481c-bb05-9e4bfc38f44a
Bridges, J.
57e80ebe-ee5f-4219-9bbc-43215e8363cd
Kelly, D.
98fd1c7e-13f6-4744-96d9-b5312c33b373
Johnson, B.
d5362d6d-0d9f-48f9-a85e-47818c89cba7

Noble, H., Meyer, J., Bridges, J., Kelly, D. and Johnson, B. (2010) Examining renal patients' death trajectories without dialysis. End of Life Journal, 4 (2), 26-34.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: minimal work has been carried out into dying trajectories of people with stage-5 (end-stage) chronic kidney disease (CKD). Consequently, little is known about such patients and how they and their families/loved ones cope with the dying phase of the disease.

Aim: this article reports on part of a larger, qualitative study exploring the experiences and trajectory towards death of people with stage-5 CKD who decided not to undergo dialysis. It provides case studies to illustrate the encountered death trajectories.

Methods: interview data were gathered during naturally occurring consultations with patients with stage-5 CKD and/or carers who were seen at a nurse-led, renal supportive care service. All patients referred to the service were asked to participate. Thirty patients and 17 carers were recruited. Patients were seen at approximately 3-month intervals until they died or the study finished. Carers took part in the consultation when present. Eighty-two consultations were included in the wider study.

Results: although the expectation was that patients would die from renal failure following a gradual decline in functional status, this was not always the case. The study identified three trajectories: those who died a typical uraemic death, those who followed another death trajectory, e.g. heart failure, and those where the cause of death was unclear.

Conclusions: the management of patients dying from stage-5 CKD and for whom the time and manner of death is unknown can be problematic for healthcare professionals.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2010
Keywords: case studies, dying trajectories, end-stage chronic kidney disease, exploratory research

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 175633
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/175633
ISSN: 2047-6361
PURE UUID: f5fd2dac-7248-42f9-a886-87ab5eca7166
ORCID for J. Bridges: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6776-736X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 25 Feb 2011 09:55
Last modified: 25 Jul 2024 01:43

Export record

Contributors

Author: H. Noble
Author: J. Meyer
Author: J. Bridges ORCID iD
Author: D. Kelly
Author: B. Johnson

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×